THE story of a family’s struggle against the weight of the Catholic Church and a compelling and detailed historical novel, Tim Fanning’s account of the Fethard-On-Sea boycott leaves no stone unturned and no angle uncovered.The infamous incident in 1957 centred on local woman Sheila Cloney, the Protestant wife of a Catholic farmer, who fled from the tiny Co Wexford town with her two young daughters after refusing to send six-year-old Eileen to the local Catholic school.
Her action sparked outrage among the local clergy and led to a seven-month boycott of Protestant-owned businesses.
Ireland during the 1950s was firmly under the thumb of the Catholic church.
The parish priest was revered and going "agin" him was not tolerated.
The country was experiencing a period of political instability, economic stagnation and poverty, and it was against this backdrop that the young mother found herself unwittingly placed at the centre of a national crisis which threatened the reputation of the state internationally and almost tore her own community apart.
To fully comprehend the events which occurred that summer and how they took on such significance, it is imperative to reach far back into Ireland’s tumultuous history. Fanning takes us back to the 1500s and weaves a fascinating tapestry as he builds up to the events of 1957.
From Henry VIII’s break with Rome, to James II’s defeat at the battle of the Boyne, the penal laws, Cromwell and the ascendance of the new Protestant landlord class, Fanning explains a complex history in a very accessible way.
He hones in specifically on the history of the Hook peninsula, Co Wexford, which was particularly vicious, and he recalls the largely forgotten Scullabogue massacre when, during the 1798 rising, insurgents killed about 200 loyalists, both Catholic and Protestant, held prisoner in a barn.
According to Fanning, "they have long memories on the Hook" and it was around this time that deep rifts developed between certain families of different persuasions in the area. The 1880s on the peninsula were a bitter time between farmer and unscrupulous landlords and boycotting became the community’s most potent weapon.
From the Hook peninsula to Co Mayo, Fanning fittingly gives an account of the official birth of boycotting.
It was 1880, and tenants of a Captain Charles Boycott demanded a rent decrease, but were refused. Boycott began evicting tenants and the local land league retaliated by ostracising his agents. The campaign became so effective that the word entered the English language.
Fast forward to the 1930s and the scene is set for the build-up to the Cloney story.
As Fanning describes the oppressive regime under which people willingly lived, the cloying grip of the Catholic church jumps off the pages.
Fethard is described as a quiet farming and fishing village where a small number of Protestants lived. While there was interaction between the communities, it was frowned upon for them to mix too much.
As the Church of Ireland had seriously declined since the foundation of the State, many Protestants did marry Catholics but, in general, they were simply "tolerated" because they kept their heads down and got on with things, accepting the Catholic church would yield a certain amount of influence over their lives.
Chapter five finally brings us the focal point of the story: Sean and Sheila Cloney. While the build-up is perhaps longer than it should be, it is key to understanding what befell the inhabitants of Fethard that summer in 1957 and how it impacted on the whole country.
Sheila was a strong-willed woman and wanted her children brought up in both traditions, but, as school age came nearer for her eldest daughter, tensions in the household increased.
Sean had divided loyalties of course, but when a local priest became actively involved and insisted the Cloneys’ daughter Eileen go to the Catholic school, Sheila bravely packed up her car and children and left, telling no-one where she was going.
The village was divided on the issue and the Protestant minority was subjected to a vicious boycott campaign.
The issue was debated in the Dáil, where the boycott was condemned by Taoiseach Éamon de Valera – much to the disgust of the church – and it was his intervention which ultimately helped to bring the episode to a civilised close.
Perhaps one of the more quirky features of the story was that Sheila Cloney only found out about what was going on back home when she read a newsletter which arrived on the Orkney Islands, where she was staying.
The family she was staying with was associated with a global network of missionaries, one of which was in Peru. The mission had picked up the story, highlighting the "intolerance of the Catholic church".
Sheila wrote home and husband Sean immediately rushed to be with her.
Although the family eventually settled back into life in Fethard, the boycott had a lasting effect on both churches.
The town itself never really recovered from the incident, with tensions between communities lasting for many years and some Catholics never returning to Protestant shops.
Ironically, the boycott had the effect of damaging the very people it was purporting to protect: the Cloney children.
Both of the girls ended up being educated at home.
They didn’t mix with local children and later in life spoke about having "lost out badly" as they never felt equal, because they had not received a formal education.
Drawing on primary sources and real-life accounts, Fanning’s book is an enjoyable and easy read, providing a comprehensive, well-informed analysis of the 1957 boycott, its causes and consequences.
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